Toilet shortage or deep state secrets? Why Musk really quit the government

Al Bawaba

a day ago

Published May 30th, 2025 - 01:02 GMT
ALBAWABA - Few people in Washington realized how disruptive Elon Musk's term would be when he began his government campaign in February at the Conservative Political Action Conference, brandishing a chainsaw.
However, the billionaire businessman is leaving behind a complex legacy that includes thousands of layoffs, the dismantling of government agencies, and frequent conflicts with prominent figures in the Trump Administration as he prepares to leave his position as the most visible face behind the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) three months later. Additionally, Musk only cuts around $175 billion of government expenditure, falling well short of Washington's $1 trillion target.
Musk has already shown an intention in refocusing his attention on his enterprises, and his position working for President Donald Trump was always meant to be transitory. However, his departure—which was revealed late Wednesday on his social media platform, X—marks a dramatic shift for the federal government's ambitious cost-cutting agency, which he helped create.
Regarding his attempts to reduce federal expenditure, Musk stated, "The @DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government." He went on to say that because he is not allowed to work more than 130 days in a 365-day period while he is a special government employee, his "scheduled time" had ended.
Kevin O'Leary agrees with Elon Musk on auditing the government:
"Bringing the whole idea of a different kind of audit into the psyche of bipartisan taxpayers, DOGE is a good idea. It just is. Auditing the government under any administration is a good idea." pic.twitter.com/obAXvogPtt — Julia 🇺🇸 (@Jules31415) May 30, 2025
Here are some things to consider about DOGE's future in the absence of Musk. Several Cabinet chiefs vetoed Musk's proposal to require government workers to write brief emails outlining their weekly successes, which was just one of many ways his Silicon Valley upbringing conflicted with Washington customs.
Numerous instances of DOGE-led reforms that have probably reduced government efficiency have been brought to light by reporting by NPR and other publications. The removal of a GSA tech unit that contributed to bettering digital services across agencies, the promotion of a return-to-office campaign despite desk, internet, and even toilet paper shortages, spending freezes on government payment cards that hindered employees' ability to purchase necessities, and more are examples of this.
The emphasis of other cases has been on one area in which DOGE has had considerable success: gathering private government information and organizing it into enormous databases. Concerns have been expressed by a number of federal courts over DOGE's data access and its intended use. There are instances when it seems DOGE and the Trump administration are exploiting the information to enforce immigration laws.
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